Pages

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Gotheeshwaram - Unknown but Multifaceted Beach Destination

Wishing all my blog readers a Happy Vishu

(Vishu is the new year according to Malayalam Calendar)

Gotheeshwaram - Unknown but Multifaceted Beach Destination

Ever dreamed of having a beautiful beach devoid of any other human beings at your perusal with a beautiful resort in lush green backgrounds having good ambience - a perfect blend for one of those romantic vacations. This is one such destination which will satisfy your dreams. Thanks to it being relatively unknown (Even the locals don't know much about this place), one can enjoy and feel the calmness.

Well I did not stay at the resort, but had a chance to visit the resort and the nearby beach on one fine saturday evening. If beach is chosen as a weekend outing destination and if we are at Kozhikkode we have the choice of 3 beaches - The crowded Kozhikkode beach (a favourite among the locals), the historical Kappad or the beach at Beypore the harbour town. Having being to these places umpteen times, we wanted to check out some other beach and up came the name Gotheeswaram, thanks to the fact that there was some news regarding some event at this place in a local daily in which it was also mentioned that there was a beach side resort and kids park.

This place was near Marad, the place which became notorious because of some communal clashes three years before as a result of which, heavy police guarding is still prelevant. Eventhough this place has been surprisingly calm after the clash, people still seems to have a negative mindset on a visit to this place. Neverthless we decided to have a visit and that decision is something which left us with constantly etched beautiful memories.

The route which we took was from Calicut town reach a place called Vattakkinar, then take the Beypore route, after Meenchanda railway overbridge, take a right turn towards Marad. There are some sign boards pointing to the Gotheeswaram too, which helped us find the route.

The roads were narrow, but well maintained and pretty deserted too

As is the common sight of Kerala, the trees on the roadside again captured my attention and could stop capturing them on my lens.

After travelling a distance of 3km from Vattakinar Junction, the soil became sandy, indicating that we were nearing a beach side. There were some cocunut farms on the way

As we entered Marad, there was a police check post, where we had to enter the vehicles number, passenger details and purpose of our visit. The policemen did not know much about a resort nearby, but told that there is a temple nearby the beach where tourists come occasionally. This answer made us wonder on whether there is actually any resort or kids park nearby as my kids were excited at the prospect of playing the park. Anyway we proceeded further. A little ahead we saw a very beautiful home on the right side and there was a small board pointing towards a resort in front of the home.

We passed the gate and proceeded towards the traditional house.

Since no one was around we proceeded further ahead through the cement laid road inside the compound.

One more beautiful little house was there, again no human being was seen.

This was a sprawling compound with lot of beautiful plants and flowers. This tree was the major attraction because of those beautiful red flowers

Again moved ahead and reached a gate, where there was a welcome sign to the beach.

Moved inside this gate in our vehicle and finally reached a gate where there was a security personal.

He asked us to park the vehicle there and get a ticket at the rate of Rs 15 per person for getting inside this resort. He also let us knew more about this resort.

This resort has rooms for stay at a rate less than Rs 2000 per day and also houses a restaurant, children's park, beautifully landscaped surronding a beach on one side. While my kids were busy getting into the park, my sight was set on the beach on the other side of the resort.

Crossed the resort's gate towards the beach and saw these beautiful trees by the side of the beach.

But what attracted me more was the beautifull and cute round figure visible through these trees and my fingers were busy in pressing the shutter release button intermittantly capturing the marvellous colors rendered by nature.

Decided to proceed ahead to the beach through this beautiful walkway

The color of sun was becoming more and more reddish and the joy of capturing it amidst various objects upfront was being felt by me. First was the weeds on the sea side and a small plant

To protect the roads close to the beach from the fury of the sea there was a rock based wall. Even this wall seemed beautiful in this backdrop

This wall seems to extend to infinity towards the northen side.

Towards the southern side is Beypore and if we watch closely we can see the Beypore sea bridge from here just on top of the horizon on the left side. (to have a close look of this beautiful sea bridge check out my post on Beypore - "Path to horizon".)

By this time Sun again changed its color and reached its best look. Everything else seems to be dull except the glowing beauty.

Soon Sun began to fade amidst the clouds, but light was still not down, the waves were lashing without any boredom of doing the same thing again and again.

By this time my family too joined me at the beach after there stint at the park inside the resort and they found one more park outside the resort which is operated by the government and has free access to public.

It was very windy at the beach side and we were happy to just sit and enjoy the fresh air and the wind keeping us cool eventhough summer was at the peak. My wife was happy and was seen here enjoying the wind

My little one soon stepped out to the sea to get a feel of those waves lashing through the legs which has a feel of a good massage.

A look at the sky and I was amazed by the huge number of eagles majestically circling around with minimal action of their wings.

Light was soon fading out and we did not get time to spend inside the resorts ambience. We got inside the resort to have a walk around.

The sign boards were quite interesting and it read that photography is permitted only in the mornings from 9am to 12pm in the resorts premises.

I checked with the security, who directed me to the resorts manager for getting permission to take photographs in the resort. I wanted to know the logic behind such a rule, to which he explained that people infringe into the privacy of other families in the evenings but not in the mornings - a reason which I found hard to gulp. Whatever it may be, he permitted me to capture some photos (He did not know that it is a free publicity for his resort). I did not have much time left for photography since light was already fading.

There was a beautiful restaurant facing the sea.

The kids park also was well maintained.

The lawn inside the resort was really sprawling with lot of coconut trees too. It would be really nice to spend some quality time with family in this place at the mornings enjoying the cool sea breeze.

There is a small water body through the lawn which also spices up the ambience.

By this time it was completely dark and my photography stunts ended. Soon we left the place and our next destination was the Gotheswaram temple which was nearby.

This temple was just 500metres away from this resort and right on the beach front with the waves lashing at the walls of the temple. One look at the temple and we fell instantly in love with the great ambience and felt sad that we did not come here much earlier.

Still we had time to have a darshan and a walk around the temple. There were lot of paintings on the wall of the temple and we soon found out that the paintings completely and clearly told the history of the creation of this temple. It was interesting to try to understand the story by watching those pictures and the kids also was eager to know it.

It was an evening well spend, with the real life images of the sprawling beach, the beautiful sunset, the lush green resort and last but not the least the temple on the beach front. We are sure to visit this place again as we found it ideal for a get together. More the people present more the fun and there is ample space to accommodate lots of people. If one don't want to use the facilities of the resort, they can go directly to the beach, the public park and also the temple. A place to check out for if you visit Kozhikkode some time in your life.

Wonderful! great pics and even better narration! looks like an interesting place, but wonder what it will become when the tourists discover this place... considering that there is already a resort there, i am sure there must be a crowd during the holiday season!

Hi Anu, welcome back. Well it is not that crowded even during holiday season. The resort is not widely publicised. I heard that it belongs to a local doctor who's not hell bound on commericializing this place. Only those who come to know by hearsay visit here. Also the fact that there were some clashes in this place has made this place notorious.

Dear Subu, Good Evening!Beautiful and amazing photos!Blessed you are to gift your family such a wonderful trip!So tempting to be there.The sun set is marvellous and the white rising waves too!I loved your observation of the radiance on your wife's face!You may give the phone no of the resort too!Wishing you a beautiful and safe journey further.......... Sasneham, Anu

Hello Anu, that was detailed comment. Well to be frank it was my family who gave me this gift. My wife suggested this place and I duly obliged thatz all.I thought of not giving the phone number of the resort, since people may think of me as publicising this resort. To be frank I do not have their phone number. If any of want to make a visit plz send me an email. I will collect it next time when I am at calicut. Thanking you once more and keep visiting!!

LinkWithin

Dear Virtual Tourer

Ready to take a virtual tour of Exotic Destinations in South India

Each post contain my travel tales with Pictures, Routes, Road conditions, Places to Stay and everything needed to enjoy the destination virtually or to plan a good vacation for your family.Do post queries if any, I am happy to help !!Wishing you a happy VIRTUAL TOUR experience !!!!

Paradise @ Trivandrum

Screenshots Galore - the Neyyar Dam

An Exciting Bullet Trip

Rider Mania 2009 - 500 Bullets meet @ Ooty. Click Pic to read log

A Thumper's Anthem

Passion for two WheelsEvery day morning I find this piece of long, black and hard cushion between my legs,The toes firmly rested on the floorBoth hands resting firmly on a piece of metal tube covered with grips.Soon I find my right leg on top of a small lever.Read more........